Water from the Cloud

Hozelock is back. After years of rather quiet niche operation and several changes of ownership, the formerly British water garden specialist that is now part of the French Exel Group is on the offensive once more.
Its main line of attack is the new Cloud Controller. Whether people are at work, watching television or sunning themselves in the Caribbean, the Cloud Controller is intended to help with garden watering via smartphone, thanks to an app that is simple to use.
Hozelock seeks to assure potential customers that even those who are technologically challenged will find it easy to install and understand the Cloud Controller. The Controller uses a low-power radio signal with a wide range to connect to the Internet, while the app avoids complex and unnecessary timer programming. The appliance can thus suggest changes to adapt the watering pattern on the basis of local weather data.
"In a world in which 328 million apps are downloaded every day and the typical household in Europe already has more than seven appliances connected, even gardens will become a natural part of the networked house," says Carolyn Brown, Hozelock's international marketing manager.
The Cloud Controller is complemented by the Sensor Controller line and the Easy Drip drip irrigation system. Easy Drip was developed for gardens and vegetable patches, greenhouses, roof terraces and balconies and is easy to adapt. The system only supplies the quantity of water that the plants need - and no more.

Instinctively simple to use, with informative packaging and no manuals, the Cloud Controller relieves the purchaser of the uncertainty in deciding which watering product to buy. As a result, Carolyn Brown is confident that the Cloud Controller "will revolutionise automatic watering and successfully increase sales in garden centres and DIY stores in Europe."

... was established in 1959 by Sidney Codling and specialised in the production of hoses and garden appliances. In 2012, the company was sold to strategic investor Exel. It now covers the ranges garden watering, garden pressure sprayers, plant protection and ponds and sells its products in over 60 countries.